To Dawn
To End, To Begin
intransitive verb, ichidan verb
This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means bright, but the verb vocab version is to dawn. It gets bright each morning when a new day dawns, so the connection kinda makes sense, right?
While 明ける is commonly used with 夜 to talk about the dawn breaking, it's also often used to talk about other time-related transitions. Because of this, it can mean to end or to begin depending on the situation, as in 冬休みが明ける (winter vacation ends) or 年が明ける (the new year begins). Think of it like a new phase in your life is "dawning."
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, it's going to use the kun'yomi reading. In this case, that's あ — just like in 明かり — but since 明's kun'yomi readings can be a little irregular, here's a mnemonic to help you out:
When it starts to dawn, you gaze up at the sky and exclaim "ah" (あ)! The dawn sky is just so beautiful, and the crisp dawn air feels so fresh in your lungs, you can't help but sigh with delight: "ah!"
もうすぐラマダーンが明ける。
Ramadan will soon be over.
日本では年が明けると「明けましておめでとう」って言うんだよ。
In Japan, when the new year begins, people say "akemashite omedetou."
新しくできたショッピングモール、休日は混んでるみたい。ゴールデンウィークが明けるころに行ってみない？
That new shopping mall seems to get crowded on holidays. Should we go check it out around when Golden Week is over?